Happy Valentine's Day...

...or Conspiracy Against Singles Day, as one of my housemates described it this morning! To celebrate, why not tell us all about the museum which you most love. When and how did it capture your heart?

Comments

The Attic said…
Okay, no one's been particularly keen to contribute to this post yet, so here's a list of some of my favourite museums to get you all started. ;) They're a pretty eclectic and diverse mix of nationals, university museums and independents. I like them all for different reasons...

- Percival David Foundation of
Chinese Art
- Tate Modern
- Woodbridge Museum
- Kiasma
- Kennedy Space Center
Ceri said…
My favourite museum in the whole world is no contest although I have only been once. It is the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in New York - largely an area for newly arrived immigrants to the Big Apple the museum is a preserved apartment building, although much smaller than the term implies today. It has been left in bascially the same condition when it was closed up I think in the 1930s so the landlord could avoid paying tax so is not really preserved than more of a survival. The trust who owns the tenement house does tours with various themes which tell you about the history of the house and the families who lived there, often the tour guides are immigrants who grew up in Lower East Side themselves which lends a wonderfully intimate and personal quality to the stories. Often the tour guides have been in similar circumstances to the families they talk about. As for the 'museum' some of the flats have been recreated as they would have appearred at the time, some have been left in the ruinous state in which they were found. It was wonderful from start to finish and I was very unhappy to leave at the end, I wanted to stay and learn more (my friend Emma and I managed to book onto two tours, they are very popular so that was all we could do). I learnt so much, about how there was basically no privacy, no locks on the doors and the toilets, which were shared, opened out onto the hallway! Everyone had a central window which enabled them to see into each others houses and chat without leaving the flat! It was a hard life and many people worked at home as well as lived there. So much life crammed into one house and this was replicated in all areas of the city.
So if you are ever in New York you HAVE to visit this museum because I believe it is one of the best I have ever been to. :)

My second favourite is the Landesmuseum Natur und Mensch in Oldenburg, Germany because it presented its collections in a very artistic manner and although I could not speak German I understood what they were trying to convey purely by visual means. For example to show the glacial formation of the region they used pebbles hanging from the ceiling on wires which was more effective than I can describe it!

Other museums I love include the Tate Modern, V&A, Manx Museum on the Isle of Mann and the Museum of Lincolnshire Life because it was the first museum I remember visiting and I loved the rag rugs.
Anna said…
I have to say that for me it was more seeing ruins and archaeology which got me started! Particularly Ephesus in Turkey and later on Ostia and Pompeii in Italy.

Popular Posts